Materially, almost nothing. They had very little, and were quite happy with it.
I couldn’t live up to their honesty and integrity, although in later life I’ve tried.
Mum gave us a small rose bush, which she claimed had come from her mother’s house in Kilburn in the 1880s. One of her stories, we thought, until years later looking at that house on Google Maps, we were delighted to see the tiny front garden a riot of roses - pink, just like the one which still blooms in our patch.
My dad taught me three things, all of them useful -
How to complain effectively
How to drive a car
How not to be a parent in any reasonable way - which has enabled be to do the exact opposite with my children.
A happy, stable childhood.
And a lovely antique clock which my grandfather bought for my grandmother in a house sale, and which my mum took no care of whatsoever as she didn’t like it.
It’s a bonging clock which stopped bonging until I inherited it and had it restored. I love it.
Allen - when more or less children got nothing materially - everyone was in the same boat. Where I lived anyway. Big Catholic families who just passed down.
But remember my mother bought me a beautiful boy doll for one Christmas and the following year - she glued a girl's wig with two pig tails and a dress. She thought she fooled me. But we had to be happy LOL
fed on premature baby food for 6 weeks and not 6 days....then my father stuck a safety pin through my belly - such abuse and I ended up having a hernia at 6 months. It scarred me for life!
Was a single parent family,
Firstly lots of love,
Family business was a riding stables, so the ability to ride.
Determination.
Pride in myself.
Respect for others.